How to Let Go of Your Fear of Direct Sales

I had an ‘Aha’ moment earlier today while listening to a training call by the incredible Leslie Zann. Leslie is a motivational speaker who spent decades in Real Estate and Direct Selling, both as a seller and on the corporate side. I jumped at the chance to participate considering Leslie’s conference in March is one of the big reasons I decided to go full steam ahead with Rodan and Fields.

What was my ‘Aha’ moment? She talked about mirroring. That we can mirror our own issues or insecurities onto our business prospects or customers without even realizing it. Here’s the thing: I may think the business kits are too expensive (I personally don’t), so when I’m talking to a prospect I’d like to sign, my non-verbals and the words I choose will mirror my own attitude about the cost of the kits. She will then be more than likely object, citing that same issue.’

What Am I Mirroring?

I am passionate about life and friendships and enjoy helping others recognize things about themselves. So, for me, the concept of helping someone see that Rodan and Fields is a great business choice for them is a fun one. I love talking one-on-one with someone to navigate through that process so they can decide if it is, in fact, right for them.

There’s only one problem.

Once you dig deeper into your friends’ list on Facebook or any other social network, you don’t know those people that well. You have to reach to see if there would be interest or, worse, send a message in a cold-call-type way. That’s the one thing I didn’t want with this business, and I’ve found myself doing things like that lately.

I’ve decided it has to stop.

Changing My Reflection

I have to change my mindset to seeing Rodan and Fields as an opportunity and not a nuisance. Yes, I understand that being propositioned about a direct selling company can be a huge pain, especially if 25% of your Facebook friends are doing it. I mean, how many Tupperware, book, nail, or cleaning product parties can you attend? Even if it is “from the comfort of your own living room?”

That’s why the key for me is changing the reason why I want to invite these people in the first place. When there is a genuine desire to connect people with something they will care about, it doesn’t come across as a nuisance. Instead of sending a turnkey message auto-generated by the direct sales company, get to know people and determine if the product (or business) you are selling is a good fit for them. And if you don’t know, ask. Make it a real conversation.

The difficult part of direct sales is that the trainings are geared toward the masses. It’s difficult to customize messaging because there are just too many people to deal with. So it’s important to understand that you don’t have to do things exactly as a training would tell you to do them.

The most important thing is making it your own.

You Don’t Have to Lie

You don’t want to lie. You want to talk to yourself about why you feel the way you do. I feel like a jerk reaching out to people simply for the sake of reaching out to them. I like to get to know people first before I ask them about Rodan and Fields, or even just mention Rodan and Fields.

So my goal needs to be simply to talk to people, and let any business opportunity come up in conversation naturally.

But why do I have to feel guilty about striking up conversations for the sole purpose of networking? It’s part of the job and a part of the job I love. I love talking to people. I love catching up and getting to know others and sharing things about my family and my life.

There is nothing wrong with doing that because I need to keep a pulse on people in general in order to stay successful at what I’m doing for a living.

So there. Mirror that.

What I’ve learned from Leslie is that I have to address my own fears and insecurities about what I’m saying to business prospects before I can speak to them with any confidence. We can’t think for other people, so trying to determine what they will think if you ask them about the business or products is futile. Just do your thing, and let them do their thing.

Will people get annoyed? Yes. But people will also be genuinely excited you thought of them and reached out with an incredible opportunity.